Jay has started having expressed bottles and I have been slowly putting more in a bottle to find out how much he needs to have. I started on Sunday with 3 and a half ounces which he ate all of and then wanted more so I had to latch him onto me. Then I tried 4 ounces which he was the same with.
Yesterday he had 5 ounces which he seemed to accpet but still rooted around a bit after but without actually crying. Today I gave him 5 ounces and he cried for more so I have now expressed him a 6 ounce bottle...but I'm worried he could be eating a lot more from a bottle than he does from me...would this do him any harm? I know they say breast fed babies cant be overfed but does this still count when you gice them the milk from a bottle, because 6 ounces sounds a lot for a 4 weeks old!!!!

i dont think you can hun, it would still take the same amount of food to fill him up its just you dont see what he was having when it was coming fromt he breast babies wont be forced to eat and anythng they have that is too much will just be sicked back up. if his still looking hungry after a feed then give him more

_________________

Wed Oct 14, 2009 2:35 pm

MrsK1986

Joined: Mon Feb 16, 2009 10:40 pmPosts: 0

Molly was taking 6oz bottles of expressed milk at that age hun and she'd scream for more within 2.5 hours!

Give him, what he wants hun

x

_________________

Wed Oct 14, 2009 2:40 pm

sonicboo

Joined: Thu May 03, 2007 1:16 pmPosts: 0

I'd agree, he will only take what he needs.

The amount he takes may have something to do with which part of the feed he is having. When a baby feeds from the breast when it's full the first part of the feed has less fat content and more water content, so the more they feed the more fattier milk they get...this is why babies cluster feed of an evening a lot to get to the richer more filling milk.

So if the milk you have expressed comes from a full boobie rather than an 'empty' one it may just mean he is having to have more to satisfy him.

Does that make sense? Anyway, whatever part of the feed he has is fine, but that may just explain why he is wanting so much